Need a 3 pager on BPD 'for dummies'

[Tesse]

Dear experts

I am looking for a simple brochure that describes BPD. I have an adolescent daughter diagnosed with BPD and none of my friends or family members understand the disease. That means it is difficult for them to understand me or my daughter and what we are going through. Any suggestions? Ideally just a few pages to keep the threshold down for reading.

Thank you!

Our objective is to better understand the struggles our child faces and to learn the skills to improve our relationship and provide a supportive environment and also improve on our own emotional responses, attitudes and effectiveness as a family leaders

[jellibeans]

deat Tesse

I want to welcome you here. There are a lot of articles here to read and they are a manageable size. One book that really helped me was "Overcoming BPD by Valerie Porr"... . take a look to the right sidebar and there are many articles to choose from... . here are a couple more... .


What is BPD (48 minute video)

BPD - Support for the Family (8 minute video)

Validation - Encouraging Peace in a BPD Family (52 minute video)

bpdfamily.com about BPD (for Beginners)

BPD Review

Understanding and Treating BPD

Tesse... . have you had a chance to post on the newbie board? I am not sure of your situation and it would help to know more. Please keep posting and let us know how we can help. We really understand what you are going through and we are here for you... .

[Tesse]

Thanks for your listing. That is very helpful and I have read a lot already from that. However, my question is for people that need to understand BPD (not me as I have a high interest and read a lot already) but have not the interest to sit for hours to read through documents.

I just wondered whether there is a 3 pager that explains BPD. The excerpts from ABC are quite sophisticated and much more written for insider's than lay people/'dummies' that are further away from people with BPD.

PS I could not understand which document you were exactly referring to in the side readings.

Thanks again for your energy and support. So much appreciated!

[jellibeans]

I see Tesse what you are looking for... . who exactly are you trying to educate? I am not sure there is a short version of this information... . it is not a straight forward disorder. I think You Tube has many videos too that might help. There are probably shorter and you have the ease of watching instead of reading. It would help to know who you are trying to reach.

[co.jo]

I totally get what you are asking for- you cannot trust that people are going to go home and check bPD out on their computer, and even if they do, there is a lot of scary stuff they might find about it. If you hand them a little brochure, they might at least skim it if it is in their hands.

So, who is going to write it?

[Tesse]

Thanks jellibeans: my audience is friends and colleagues that have not necessarily a direct relation with a BPD person but with me, and I am the mum of a BPD Daughter. If I have something like that it will perhaps help me so they understand the condition and therefore hopefully they understand better my daughter but also (esp.) ME. Many want to give me support, but my friends have no clue what BPD is so they give well meant but 'silly' advice. And because of that I tend to engage less with them which is the opposite of what I should do as a mum of a BPD Daughter. I know that I would need their sympathy and support in the many years to come... . that's why I ask whether anyone know of such 3 pager... .

Thanks a million to you all!

[lever.]

I am not aware of anything exactly like this but it would be a really useful thing.

My DH might actually read it

[jellibeans]

Dear Tesse

I think that is great that you are looking for something to educate your firends... . have they asked to be educated? I have gone to the trouble of sending books to friends for them to read... . I am not sure they read them. I really feel unless you are going through something like this it is hard for people to truly understand. I don't share a lot with all my friends because they don't understand. I share with my close firends and even they struggle to fully grasp what is going on. I really have found my best support here on the parent board.

I have also found that people are very judgemental too... . or they beleive in the tough love approach. They simply can't understand how I would allow my daughter to do some of the things she has done... . this is how people respond unfortuantely. I tend to say things more general like... . she is depressed at this time... . they can understand that or the she has anxeity about something... . describing more of her symptoms rather than labeling her with mental illness. I feel it is important to protect her privacy. Your need for support should not take priority over her right to privacy.

I am not sure why you feel the need to educate your friends and colleagues? I can have friends that know very little about my dd16... . that doesn't stop us from being friends.

[lever.]

I do agree with jellibeans here.

I have one friend who understands because she has experienced similar difficulties.

I have one other friend who I talk to. She has a great sense of humour but doesn't really understand and says things like "that's absolutely outrageous".

I trust these two people but otherwise I don't share a lot about DD as people might meet her and she deserves some privacy.

I share more on here where people really do understand the situation.

However a brief guide for family members who won't read anything more complicated would be helpful

[Rapt Reader]

Hello, Tesse &  

I'm checking into the resources here to see if there is something you can download and print out for a Brochure, and I've found one thing so far:

What are the Symptoms of BPD?

Now, I'm going to keep looking, and I'll add anything else that I might find; you can check everything out and print out what works for you (or, you might even do a copy and paste of the pertinent information and make your own Brochure   ).

Anyhow, hopefully I'll be back with some more options for you... .

Here's another:

Borderline Personality Disorder - A Clinical Perspective

I think that if you check out both of these links, you will see that you can save them to a PDF file and then take a page or 2 from one and a page or 2 from another, and make a nice little Brochure to hand out to friends and loved ones. The first 2 pages, actually, of each link above would make a nice 4-page Brochure, I think... . Be creative    (But, I do think it would work!)

[griz]

I am not sure if this will help at all but it is my go to explaination when someone doesn't understand and I need to be brief or concise.  I use this for people who really don't need a great understanding of BPD

DD's brain is sort of like a GPS.  Her programming is different than most people and when something distrups her directions (ie a change in her thinking) she needs to recalculate.  Think of what a GPS does when you take a turn that is not on the route,  it tells you it is recalculating.  Fortunetly for the GPS there are satelites that give it clear direction for what to do when there is a change.  DD's satelite is a little scrambled so her actions tend to be like making a lot of wrong turns till she gets back on track. 

Griz

Our objective is to better understand the struggles our child faces and to learn the skills to improve our relationship and provide a supportive environment and also improve on our own emotional responses, attitudes and effectiveness as a family leaders